1. Technical Field of The Invention
The invention relates to a printing system and control method for printing images on sheets in accordance with electrical image signals fed to the printer. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method that generates order processing time signals relating to the estimated processing time for the printing of print orders by the printer and generates displays that graphically depict the order processing time signals for one or more printers.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,243 describes an automatic electro-photographic reproduction apparatus with a display which continuously shows, in digital form, both the actual estimated time still required for the print order in progress and the estimated end time at which the print order in progress will be ready. However, there is no display of (1) a waiting time indicating how long it will take until it will be the turn of the next print order to be processed or (2) a time at which the next print order will be printed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,864 describes a programmable copying device provided with a plurality of collecting trays for documents, wherein a document can include one or more sheets. Copying can be preprogrammed and then carried out automatically for the various documents. The processing time for each document is calculated, after which all the calculated processing times are totalled and added to the current time. A display digitally shows the thus predicted time at which all the documents will have been processed. There is no display of any calculated time for processing a specific document or a plurality of documents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,361 describes a reproduction apparatus that continuously displays the time remaining for the processing of a print order in progress. This display may either be in the form of a digital readout of the time remaining or in an analogue form by using a graphic bar, the length of which corresponds to the percentage of the print order that has already been processed. In the '361 patent, there is no graphic display of the expected duration or the end time. Moreover, the display relates only to one order.
European Patent Application EP 0 468 762 describes a system for printing documents wherein the system is provided with a printer and a controller. The controller is adapted to receive print orders from a plurality of input stations. The print orders may have different priorities and may be provided with a specified required end time by which they must be printed. On the basis of the specified priority and any specified required end time, the controller determines the sequence in which the print orders are sent to the printer. A display at the controller indicates digitally the calculated processing time for each print order and the specified or calculated end time of each print order. The user who has sent a print order also receives information concerning the end time of dealing with his print order. In this case, the information is also displayed digitally. Also, the user has no opportunity of moving to a different printer.